On translating logic

The paper comments on Dummett's Significance of Quine's Indeterminacy Thesis and discusses Quine's views on the translation of logical connectives. Some difficulties about the latter related to those raised by Morton (J. Phil. 70 (1973), 503–510) are considered. Quine seems here to be in a position considered by Dummett of not allowing a foreigner to be translated as conflicting with one's own firm theoretical commitment (in this case classical logic). But Dummett seems wrong in holding that entrenched theoretical statements must be stimulus analytic.A revised and expanded version of remarks at the Conference on Language, Intentionality, and Translation Theory, University of Connecticut, Storrs, March 2, 1973, commenting on Michael Dummett, The Significance of Quine's Indeterminacy Thesis. I am greatly indebted to the discussion at the Conference.     

Understanding the contribution of target repetition and target expectation to the emergence of the prevalence effect in visual search

Behavior in visual search tasks is influenced by the proportion of trials on which a target is presented (the target prevalence). Previous research has shown that when target prevalence is low (2 % prevalence), participants tend to miss targets, as compared with higher prevalence levels (e.g., 50 % prevalence). There is an ongoing debate regarding the relative contributions of target repetition and the expectation that a target will occur in the emergence of prevalence effects. In order to disentangle these two factors, we went beyond previous studies by directly manipulating participants’ expectations regarding how likely a target was to appear on a given trial. This we achieved without using cues or feedback. Our results indicated that both target repetition and target expectation contribute to the emergence of the prevalence effect.     

Probabilities,causation, and logic programming in conditional reasoning: reply to Stenning and Van Lambalgen (2016)

Oaksford and Chater (2014 Oaksford, M., &; Chater, N. (2014). Probabilistic single function dual process theory and logic programming as approaches to non-monotonicity in human vs. artificial reasoning. Thinking and Reasoning, 20, 269–295. doi:10.1080/13546783.2013.877401[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Thinking and Reasoning, 20, 269–295) critiqued the logic programming (LP) approach to nonmonotonicity and proposed that a Bayesian probabilistic approach to conditional reasoning provided a more empirically adequate theory. The current paper is a reply to Stenning and van Lambalgen's rejoinder to this earlier paper entitled ‘Logic programming, probability, and two-system accounts of reasoning: a rejoinder to Oaksford and Chater’ (2016) in Thinking and Reasoning. It is argued that causation is basic in human cognition and that explaining how abnormality lists are created in LP requires causal models. Each specific rejoinder to the original critique is then addressed. While many areas of agreement are identified, with respect to the key differences, it is concluded the current evidence favours the Bayesian approach, at least for the moment.     

Skilled Immigrants and the Negotiation of Family Relations During Settlement in Calgary,Alberta

When re-establishing their lives in Canada, international migrants with dependent children regularly encounter dramatically different conditions for family life. The parents’ employment situation, the limited availability of extended kin to help with child rearing, and a multicultural and relatively more permissive social environment, all of these invite or even demand changes in newcomers’ family practices. Yet, more information is needed about the ways in which skilled immigrants negotiate the changed conditions for work and family life in this country, and the impact this has on family dynamics during settlement. Drawing on data from interviews with 30 skilled immigrants living in Calgary, Alberta, this paper explores how coming to Canada impacted participants’ situations of paid work, parenting practices, and familial gender relations. Findings suggest that strained economic and social resources often limited the extent to which mothers and fathers were able to maintain an organization of family life similar to what they had established in their country of origin. However, while in some cases, shifts in family formation caused heightened levels of stress and strain and further entrenched the doing of conventional gender roles, in others, changed conditions acted as a catalyst for positive change. The tools that eased the burdens of settlement for some are explored, and recommendations are made for how to better support newcomer families.     

Connectionist Natural Language Processing: The State of the Art

This Special Issue on Connectionist Models of Human Language Processing provides an opportunity for an appraisal both of specific connectionist models and of the status and utility of connectionist models of language in general. This introduction provides the background for the papers in the Special Issue. The development of connectionist models of language is traced, from their intellectual origins, to the state of current research. Key themes that arise throughout different areas of connectionist psycholinguistics are highlighted, and recent developments in speech processing, morphology, sentence processing, language production, and reading are described. We argue that connectionist psycholinguistics has already had a significant impact on the psychology of language, and that connectionist models are likely to have an important influence on future research.     

Dilemmic Epistemology

Synthese - This article argues that there can be epistemic dilemmas: situations in which one faces conflicting epistemic requirements with the result that whatever one does, one is doomed to do...